Workers say B.C. cleaning company took months to pay them

**Editor’s note: After CityNews aired this story, Melissa and Alea Cook and Richard Kemp all received payments from Scrubbi for the work they did. Ana Dominguez was paid the day the story aired. 

At the beginning of February, Surrey sisters Melissa and Alea Cook say they started working for a cleaning company. They were working as cleaners, mopping floors, polishing mirrors and tidying private homes and apartments. But they say despite working dozens of hours over several weeks, neither saw a cent in payment.

“So, they agreed, I agreed, that I would be paid a week after the statement was released, but that just never happened,” Alea Cook told CityNews. “I got all my statements on time, but I just never got the payments for those.”

“It kind of took a while for it to set in, the whole fact that we were just doing all this free work,” Melissa Cook added.

“I phoned them multiple times, emailed them multiple times asking for my payment, saying I needed to pay my bills. But they kept kind of responding with the same message of like, ‘we’re working on it, sorry for the delay’, just these excuses.”

The company in question is B.C.-based Scrubbi. Alea says they owe her more than $2,000, while Melissa says she’s owed over $1,500. Both say they have since stopped working for Scrubbi, and they’re not the only ones.

“I feel used,” said Ana Dominguez, who started working for the cleaning company in January, a month after she moved from Mexico to Canada with her family.

“I’m in a very sad situation.”

The new Vancouver resident says Scrubbi only paid her once, and that payment was late. She says she’s owed about $1,800, and stopped working for the company because of the situation.

“It’s very important to me to work. I have a son, I have my husband. I am the support for my family. It’s very bad, this situation for me,” said Dominguez.

In total, CityNews spoke to seven people who say Scrubbi owes them money for the work they did.

“We at Scrubbi understand that a small number of Scrubbi’s contractors and vendors have experienced some problems with payment. In order to maintain privacy protection, we will limit the amount of information disclosed,” the company said in a statement to CityNews.

“In short, Scrubbi recently transitioned to using a third party vendor to process payment to its contractors and vendors. During the transition period, some payments did not process properly, which affected a small minority of contractors and vendors. To resolve any outstanding payment issues, Scrubbi encourages the contractors and vendors to reach out directly to Scrubbi.”

Dominguez says the situation has caused her a lot of anxiety.

“I came to Vancouver for the best life and better education for my kid, and I have to work. I don’t know what happened,” she said. “I send emails, [they] answer me ‘oh, I’m so sorry, I’m working to the pay.’ It’s the same all the time. At this moment, I don’t have my money.”

Two other people tell CityNews Scrubbi owes them money for work they did in July 2022. One, Richard Kemp, says he’s owed $1,300.

“I wasn’t able to pay rent, groceries, or any of that for a couple of months,” Kemp said. “I still had my car payments I still needed to pay.”

Kemp says he tried to pursue legal action, but a lawyer pointed out a dispute clause in the contract he signed with Scrubbi, which says disputes will be resolved privately, confidentially and by an arbitrator. He says that would have cost him several hundred dollars.

“(There’s) a lack of protection that you have for going about and getting what you’re due because you have to pay for everything up front and there’s no guarantee, even if arbitration is not involved and you’re going through a court of law. There’s no guarantee you’re going to get paid for the fees that you have to incur just to get paid,” he said.

The contract all the cleaners signed with Scrubbi designates them contractors, which aren’t covered by the Employment Standards Act in B.C. But a labour lawyer says that may not hold up in a legal dispute.

“Calling somebody a contractor does not necessarily make them a contractor,” said Shafik Bhalloo, an associate professor at Simon Fraser University.

“There are numerous tests that one can look at, including statutory definition of what an employee is under the Employment Standards Act, since we’re talking about British Columbia. And you also look at common law cases, court cases that have set out a variety of tests to determine whether somebody is an employee or not.”

Both Dominguez and the Cook sisters say they’ve filed complaints with the B.C. Employment Standards Branch, a process that can take several months.

“That’s what I did, initially, before I realized I might not be covered by this,” Alea said. “I’ve done everything that I can, but now I’m just kind of waiting to see if they’ll ever pay me.”

“Please pay all the people who have not been paid,” Dominguez pleaded. “Please do not continue abusing more people like me. The only thing we have done is our job.”

Meanwhile, Scrubbi is asking for patience.

“Scrubbi asks for the cooperation and patience of the contractors during this time, while Scrubbi takes the necessary steps required to ensure payments go to the correct contractors and vendors,” the company added in its statement.

“We assure you that Scrubbi has and continues to work diligently with all affected parties. This is a top priority for Scrubbi, as its resolution is key to maintaining Scrubbi’s high standards for its house-cleaning services that are provided to its customers throughout the lower mainland of British Columbia.”